A common problem encountered by musicians is the temporary placement of their instrument when it is not being played during those times when it is inconvenient to replace the instrument in its case. This situation typically arises when the musician desires to take a short break from playing, or when the musician intends to play several instruments during a performance and needs quick and easy access to these various instruments.
Various conventional stands for supporting musical instruments in an upright position when they are not being used have been disclosed, such as for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,060,581 by Buegeleisen; U.S. Pat. No. 1,612,148 by Oettinger; U.S. Pat. No. 1,684,912 by Dunklau; U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,786 by Mann; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,464,031 by Fiedel. These patents pertain to apparatus for supporting musical instruments in a generally upright position above a supporting surface. Each apparatus includes a frame having a lower member extending upward from the supporting surface for engaging a bottom portion of the instrument, and an upper member for engaging an upper portion of the musical instrument to support the instrument in a generally upright position.
Apparatus for storing a plurality of musical instruments in a generally upright position have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,058,184 by Sherrard; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,462 by Sheftel. The Sherrard patent discloses an apparatus having horizontally extending upper and lower members for supporting respective upper and lower portions of the musical instrument. On the other hand, the Sheftel patent discloses a lower frame having a plurality of upstanding members of different configurations for supporting various types of musical instruments thereon.
Other apparatus for supporting musical instruments in an upright position include Wenger, U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,131, which discloses a chair having a member extending upward from a back of the chair to support an upper portion of the instrument, and a lower member extending horizontally from a leg of the chair to engage a bottom portion of the musical instrument.
A support stand having a collapsible tripod-like lower base portion and an upper portion having a pair of outwardly extending forks for engaging an upper portion of the musical instrument to support it in an erect position is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,045,583 by Mills.
A housing protector for the base of a guitar, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,258 by Parker, includes a lower portion with a pair of downwardly projecting legs and an upper portion to which a downwardly depending elongated leg is pivotally connected to form a tripod base for supporting the guitar in an upright manner.
Conventional support stands for musical instruments have a number of deficiencies which make their use both cumbersome and inefficient. For example, these stands must be transported separately from the musical instrument, and thus they add to the amount of equipment which the musician typically must carry. Furthermore, these stands occupy a significant amount of space which is essentially wasted when the stands are not being used to support the instrument. Often these stands are used during a musical performance in a stage environment where space is rather limited, and constitute additional obstacles about which the musicians must maneuver during a performance. In addition, the conventional support stands have a relatively high center of gravity since they are typically configured to support the instrument in an erect position by engaging an upstanding neck portion of the instrument. This high center of gravity makes them stand less stable and more susceptible to falling over.